Forget ‘Black Mass’ — Johnny Depp Has Another, Better Mob Movie

Al Pacino and Johnny Depp in ‘Donnie Brasco’ (Everett)

Johnny Depp’s performance as Boston crime lord Whitey Bulger is the big selling point of Black Mass, which opened this weekend to a healthy $23.4 million box office. Depp fans have been rooting for a big comeback from the actor, who hasn’t received an Oscar nomination since 2008 (for Sweeney Todd) and has spent the past few years mired in flops like The Lone Ranger and Mortdecai. Unfortunately, while Depp is perfectly good in Black Mass, the crime drama doesn’t give him a lot to do acting-wise. His Whitey vacillates between two modes: charming and generous kid from the old neighborhood and ruthless killer. Black Mass flips that switch so fast and frequently that Whitey’s true motivations and personality remain a mystery (as does the question of why anybody would want to hang out with this terrifying, not-at-all-fun-seeming gangster). It’s enough to make one nostalgic for a much better Johnny Depp gangster movie: 1997’s Donnie Brasco, featuring a knockout performance from the actor that rivals that of his costar Al Pacino.

Depp plays the title character in Donnie Brasco, based — like Black Mass — on the true story of a gangster who became tangled with the FBI. In Black Mass, aging crime lord Bulger (Depp) colludes with his childhood friend-turned-federal-agent John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) to sell out other Boston lawbreakers in exchange for government protection. In Donnie Brasco, Depp’s character takes the opposite role: His Donnie is actually an undercover FBI agent named Joe Pistone, who infiltrates the New York City Mafia via an aging gangster named Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero (Pacino), who in turn believes that Donnie is his loyal and eager protégée.At the time he made Donnie Brasco, Depp was at the height of his early Hollywood stardom. Having left his 21 Jump Street heartthrob days behind in 1990, the actor was giving acclaimed performances in offbeat films like Edward Scissorhands, Benny and Joon, and Ed Wood. However, his growing reputation as an actor was still offset by his media reputation as a self-destructive rebel. Almost the moment he became a movie star, Depp began making headlines for starting bar brawls and trashing hotel rooms. People placed him on their “50 Most Beautiful People” list in 1996, writing, “Depp, 32, makes schoolgirls faint and fathers reach for shotguns.” And when Depp appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair in 1997, the headline read “Johnny Depp: Talent, Charm, Kate Moss and One Heck of a Temper.”  So when Depp was cast opposite Pacino — who had recently received his first Oscar for Scent of a Woman after seven career nominations — it was seen less as a meeting of two great thespians and more as a volatile young thing being placed at the feet of a master.yahoonews